These Days
by Eliana Panthera
Summary: //"It was these days that Ziva lived for."// Kate, Isabel, and Ziva go to the zoo. With their family, it will never be a normal outing.


**These Days**

"Come on, come on, come on!" Isabel said, grabbing Ziva's hand and practically dragging her across the parking lot.

Ziva wondered why she had agreed to this 'going to the zoo as a family' thing. She did not even _like _zoos. They smelled strange, and they were always crowded with bouncy children and their parents who had only come along to make sure that their kids were not going to accidentally fall into the lion exhibit or something.

But Kate had agreed with Isabel's suggestion at dinner the night before. And now they were here. Damn.

Fingers interlocked with the ones on the hand not being held by Isabel, and Ziva felt her heart melt at Kate's warm smile.

Isabel was pratically hyperventilating with happiness, "I haven't been to the zoo since...I've never been to the zoo!"

"What do you want to see first?" Kate asked, and flipped the map over the right way as Isabel began to study it upside-down.

Pursing her lips in a thoughtful expression that matched the one Kate would get perfectly, Isabel said, "Well, we can go look at the lions and the zebras and stuff since they're really close, then go see the monkeys, then eat lunch, then go look at the fish and the rainforest and the polar bears and seals and lemurs."

"You already have this planned out?" Ziva asked.

Isabel nodded firmly, "Are we going to stand here all day or are we going to go look at the lions and zebras and stuff?"

She turned and walked off to the right with her head high, not bothering to see if her mothers had followed her. Kate gave Ziva a 'let's get on with it' look, and hurried to catch up with their five-and-a-half-year-old daughter.

Ziva followed, having no choice. She would have stayed where she was, and perhaps gotten a diet coke and a piece of pizza and sat down on a shaded bench, but Kate had the car keys. Ziva did not want to have to call Gibbs to come pick her up from the zoo _at all_.

Glad that Kate had thought ahead and dressed her in her neon orange t-shirt, Ziva easily spotted Isabel. Walking to stand behind her, she studied the zebras.

"What color are they?" Isabel asked.

Ziva gave her a strange look, "Black and white."

"No- I mean, are they white with black stripes or black with white stripes?" Isabel asked.

Pursing her lips, Ziva said, "They're indecisive."

"In-de-ci-sive. What does that mean?" Isabel asked, giving Kate and Ziva curious head tilt. She stayed focused on the zebras, though.

Kate spoke up before Ziva could, "It means their stubborn like your Ima and can't decide what they want."

"I am not stubborn!" Ziva defended.

Kate raised an eyebrow, and Isabel smirked and said in a sickly sweet tone, "I know what stubborn means. You're _very _stubborn, Ima."

"Guh," Ziva mumbled, "I am getting ganged up on."

Isabel patted her arm lightly, and asked, "Can we go look at the lions now?"

"Sure," Kate said, and Isabel took off.

Kate ran off after her, yelling about how Isabel was 'going to be grounded young lady if she didn't get back here right now.'

Ziva rolled her dark brown eyes. Once again, she had been left behind. Scowling, Ziva walked into the crowd of people (that's what they got for coming to the zoo on a Saturday), on the lookout for a neon orange t-shirt.

---

The next hour consisted of Kate yelling at Isabel to hold her hand so she wouldn't get lost (this went on about twelve times before Isabel finally got the point), Ziva wondering if snow-cones were really made of snow, and Isabel trying to see every animal in the zoo before lunch.

"At least we're getting a workout," Kate said, watching Isabel as the young girl played on the playground, going across the monkey bars as if it was what she was born to do.

Ziva groaned in response and let her head fall against Kate's shoulder, "I am never coming to the zoo again. Do you know how many times I have stepped on chewed gum today?"

"Just enjoy it, Ziva. These days- where we can just be a happy family without work getting in the way- are something to look forward to," Kate said, squeezing Ziva's knee lightly. Ziva watched Isabel slide down one of the slides, smiling hugely.

Nodding, she said, "That is true. I do enjoy spending time with the two of you."

"Mama!" Isabel said, running over to stand in front of Kate and Ziva, "Could you push me on the swings? Please, please please?"

Kate sighed and nodded, "Just for a few minutes- then we need to go eat lunch."

"Yay! Come on!" She took off, and Kate hurried after her.

Ziva could not help but smile as she watched Kate pushing Isabel on the swings with ease. The young girl was laughing, and Kate had a grin plastered on her face that could light up the world.

She was lucky. Damn lucky. Ziva had decided this the day Isabel was born, and she kept believing it more and more each day.

Leaning back against the bench, Ziva shielded her eyes from the noontime sun and watched Kate and Isabel, laughing and smiling as if nothing could go wrong.

Kate stopped the swing a moment later, grabbing Isabel's hand. She pulled the giggling girl onto her shoulders and piggy-backed her over to where Ziva was sitting.

"Hey sweetie. We're ready to go eat if you are," Kate said.

Ziva grinned as she stood up, "Finally!"

Kate's laugh made the headache Ziva was getting from the sun and the chewed gum stuck to the bottom of her left shoe worthwhile.

---

"Ima, what do you think in?" Isabel asked.

Kate scolded her, "Don't talk with food in your mouth."

"What do you mean?" Ziva asked after Isabel had swallowed her french fries.

Isabel looked at Ziva curiously, "Do you think in Hebrew, English, or some other language?"

"You know, that's a good question. What language _do _you think in?" Kate asked.

Ziva shrugged a shoulder, "I think in Hebrew when I am upset, and English most other times. Though I'll think a few sentences Arabic, French, Italian, Turkish, Russian and German sometimes."

"Do turkeys speak Turkish?" Isabel asked.

Trying not to laugh, Ziva shook her head, "Turks speak Turkish."

"Where do the Turks live?" Cocking her head to the side like a puppy, Isabel shoved a chicken nugget in her mouth as she waited for an answer.

Kate rolled her eyes, and Ziva said casually, "Turks live in Turkey."

"Turkey. Do they eat alot there?" Isabel asked.

Frowning, Kate said, "Don't talk with your mouth full, Isabel."

"I do not know if they eat a lot there," Ziva said honestly.

Isabel ate another french fry, "Mama, do you talk in any other languages?"

"I know some Italian, French, and enough Hebrew to converse with a toddler," Kate responded.

Isabel grinned, "A toddler?"

"Okay- maybe a toddler who only knows five or six words," Kate said, cheeks flushing.

Ziva smirked and stole one of her french fries, "That is better than most people."

"How did we get here?" Kate asked.

Ziva and Isabel answered simultaneously, looking at Kate like she had grown another head, "We drove."

Kate couldn't help but laugh.

---

"Do you think the polar bear would eat me if I went into it's habitat?" Isabel asked, using the new word that she had learned from a zookeeper.

Ziva smirked, "Do you want me to throw you in so we can find out?"

"What? No!" Isabel said, looking terrified.

Ruffling her hair, Ziva smiled, "Just kidding, baby girl. I would never feed you to a polar bear."

"You're feeding someone to a polar bear?" Kate asked, walking over from looking at the seals.

Isabel frowned, "Ima said she was going to throw me into the polar bear habitat to see if it ate me!"

"I was kidding!" Ziva defended herself, squirming under Kate's famous 'look.' Isabel bit her lip nervously.

The 'look' had that effect on people.

---

Kate was terrified of snakes.

That was an understatement.

This was the reason the she was as white as a ghost, watching Isabel pet a python curiously.

"Is he venomous?" Isabel asked.

The zookeeper shook his head, speaking reassuringly, "Pythons are one big muscle, really. They squeeze their prey to death, then they eat it."

"Cool!" Isabel said.

Kate nearly fainted.

Ziva linked her fingers tightly with Kate's, and gave Isabel a look, "We should get moving- we want to see the wolves before we have to leave, yes?"

"Yeah! Thanks!" Isabel said, grinning at the zookeeper before skipping off.

She looked at Kate and Ziva seriously, "Can I have a pet snake?"

Kate turned a sickly shade of green.

_First aid stand, here we come._

---

"Look! It's a gift shop. Can we go in?" Isabel asked, going Bambi-eyed.

Kate shook her head, "No."

"Please?" Isabel pouted, eyes wide and innocent.

Ziva frowned, "No."

"Please?" Isabel asked again.

Sighing, Kate turned to Ziva. She had finally returned to the correct color after the snake incident, "How much money do you have?"

"Ten dollars," Ziva said, looking in her wallet, "And a Target gift-card."

Kate sighed again, "I have twenty dollars."

"Twenty dollars- no more," Kate told Isabel.

The young girl grinned and ran into the gift shop.

"No one can resist the Bambi eyes," Ziva mumbled.

Kate simply groaned.

---

Later that night, Kate and Isabel were both in bed.

Ziva was sitting at her laptop, turning it off when she heard footsteps on the stairs.

Expecting it to be Kate complaining for her to get upstairs and into bed _now_, Ziva closed her laptop and put it back in its case.

Isabel was standing on the carpet in front of Ziva's chair, clutching the stuffed polar bear Kate had broken down and bought her to her chest.

"Isabel, you are supposed to be in bed," Ziva said.

Lips quivering, Isabel spoke softly, "I can't sleep, Ima. I...I keep thinking about bad things."

Ziva frowned and picked her daughter up, holding her close.

"What kind of bad things?" Ziva asked.

Swallowing thickly, Isabel let everything out in one breath, "Yesterday at school Markus told me that our family was weird because I had two moms. He told me that we were all going to Hell, so I wanted to go to the zoo to see if there was any other people with two moms. I wanted to know if it was really bad being like this. Is our family really weird?"

Oh crap.

Ziva had known that this conversation would happen eventually. She and Kate both did. Ziva just wondered why it could not have happened when she had Kate to help her explain things.

"Well, our family is different. Most families have a mom and a dad. It is how things worked from the beginning. But someone always decides to break the rules- so now some families have two moms or two dads. Some people think it is wrong, some people do not care. Everyone has an opinion, and some people can be quite mean about it. But there is nothing wrong with our family," Ziva said firmly.

Isabel nodded, and asked, "So, we _aren't _weird?"

"Well, we are weird. But that is just because we like to make fools of ourselves in public to annoy your mother, yes?" Ziva asked.

Giggling, Isabel nodded, "I like being weird like that. It's fun."

This statement ended in a yawn, and Ziva scooped Isabel up.

"I think someone needs to get to bed. Both of us need to get to bed," Ziva said.

Isabel nodded into her chest sleepily, and Ziva smiled.

After Isabel had been tucked into bed and kissed goodnight, Ziva had a chance to feel proud of herself for handling the situation better than she thought she would. She had said the right things. Thank God.

Pulling on pajamas and brushing her teeth, Ziva climbed into bed with Kate.

Curling up against the warmth of the other woman's body, she kissed Kate softly on the lips.

The brunette stirred slightly, but did not wake up. Ziva smiled, thinking over the day. Sure, it had been torture, but it was fun at the same time.

It was these days that Ziva lived for; the ones she spent with the two people she loved the most.

Ziva fell asleep with a grin on her face.

**The zoo can be torture. Isabel, snake phobias, and gum only make that worse.**

**Isabel is my new favorite OC now (tied with Ahuvi). I'll have to write more about her.**

**Reviews make my world go round, seriously.**


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